


Crush

by celeste9



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Adolescent Sexuality, Crushes, F/F, Female Friendship, Female-Centric, First Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-06
Updated: 2015-06-06
Packaged: 2018-04-03 02:40:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4083556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celeste9/pseuds/celeste9
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jemma was twelve when she had her first crush on a girl.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crush

**Author's Note:**

> Another ficlet for the [MCU kissing fest](http://such-heights.dreamwidth.org/459287.html) that took me way too long to finish. For the prompt 'Bobbi/Jemma, adoration'.

Jemma was twelve when she had her first crush on a girl.

Her name was Abigail and she was fourteen. She played football and probably didn’t even know Jemma’s name. No one really knew Jemma’s name – they just knew she was that annoying little know-it-all that none of the teachers knew what to do with.

There were other girls after Abigail, Lilah and Jo and Olivia and Anne, and boys, too. Some of them even knew her name.

Not that that always meant something came of it. The problem with being as smart as Jemma was that it left you feeling a bit lonely, most of the time. Usually it boiled down to some variation of, ‘you’re too young’.

It helped, going to the Academy, being surrounded by people as brilliant and as motivated as she was. Jemma felt like she belonged there, finally, and she started getting noticed as more than just that weird nerdy girl.

People noticed _her,_ and that was nice. Of course, Jemma didn’t have much time for dating, and she didn’t think she was very good at it. She found that a lot of the people she was interested in weren’t the ones who were interested in her. It was a problem.

Then there was S.H.I.E.L.D., and Jemma mostly lived in the lab before Coulson asked her to be part of his team. Living on a plane really put a wrench in your love life, Jemma found. She would have quite liked to get to know Agent Triplett better, but it never seemed to be the right time, and then Fitz -

Well. She didn’t want to think about Fitz.

S.H.I.E.L.D. fell and Jemma went to work for Hydra. When Bobbi came swooping in to her rescue, with legs up to there and her hair falling around her shoulders as she made arse-kicking look like dancing, how could Jemma _not_ have been in love? Well, not love, not really, but that overwhelming, heady rush that felt like love.

“I wish you could have seen it,” Jemma said to Skye, after. “She was amazing.”

“Your descriptions are pretty vivid, actually. And I think I’m cool with not being around for an escape from near-death, for once. Had enough of those myself while you were gone.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here,” Jemma said, meaning it on more than one level.

“Hey, you were helping us in your own way,” Skye said, before something over Jemma’s shoulder made her eyes gleam with amusement. “But why talk about knights in shining leather when you can have the real thing?”

“What?” Jemma asked as Skye walked off, before turning to see Bobbi walk towards her.

“Don’t let me interrupt,” Bobbi said.

Jemma’s eyes traveled up Bobbi’s body (she was _so tall_ ) to her face. “You’re blonde.” _Oh, God. What a twit._

Bobbi only smiled though, running her hand through her hair. “Yeah. The brunette look seemed to fit my cover, don’t you think?”

Honestly Jemma thought Bobbi could shave her head and still look amazing, but she obviously couldn’t say that out loud. “Blonde suits you.”

“I hope so, that dye was a bitch to get out. Hate to think I did it for nothing.”

“I wanted to thank you. Again. For what you did for me.”

“Jemma, you don’t have to. It was nothing.”

Jemma reached out to rest her hand on Bobbi’s forearm. “You saved my life,” she said. “That wasn’t nothing.”

“Well,” Bobbi said, her tone gentle and humorous. “I’m sure you’ll return the favor, sooner or later.”

“I hope I won’t have to.” But she would do it, yes, she would.

In point of fact, Jemma thought she would very much like the chance to be Bobbi’s hero rather than the other way round.

-

“She’s very pretty, isn’t she?” Jemma said, watching Bobbi walk down the hall, through the glass window of her lab.

Skye’s gaze followed Bobbi. “Blind people know Bobbi’s hot. Hell, _corpses_ know Bobbi’s hot.”

“Do you think she’s got a boyfriend? Or a… girlfriend?” Jemma thought the way she added that on the end there was quite nonchalant and innocent. She had no particular interest in the matter, of course not.

“I think she’s got an ex-husband and you’d have to be crazy to want to get mixed up in that.”

Ugh. Harsh. But probably true, Jemma was forced to admit. “Yes. Perhaps.”

“I also think that you’ve got one hell of a crush on her.”

“I don’t!”

“Come on,” Skye said, rolling her eyes. “Your face lights up like Christmas every time she looks at you and your excuses for fitting her into every conversation you have are getting flimsier by the second.”

“That’s not true!” When Skye gave her a look, Jemma relented. “Okay, well, maybe a little. Is it that obvious? Do you think she’s noticed?”

“She’s one of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s top agents, of course she’s noticed. I’m sure she’s flattered.”

“Oh, yes, flattered. That’s exactly the reaction I was hoping for.”

“If you want to find out whether she’s more than that, you might want to spend less time talking about her and more talking to her. And, you know, asking her out. But you’d better be sure that’s a mess you want in on, ’cause Hunter doesn’t seem to be going anywhere any time soon.”

“Actually, I think Coulson half-expects Hunter to leave every day,” Jemma said, wanting to be obstinate in the face of Skye’s actually rather good advice because acknowledging it would have been more difficult.

“And if Bobbi decides to leave with him?”

Jemma stayed silent, though she didn’t trust the dismay she felt at that possibility not to show on her face.

“That’s what I thought,” Skye said, not unkindly, and squeezed Jemma’s hand.

-

Bobbi sat on an exam table in Jemma’s lab, holding her hair back while Jemma cleaned out a cut on her forehead. Bobbi had assured her the other guy looked worse, which Jemma could believe.

“It will need a few stitches,” Jemma said. “Don’t worry, I won’t let it leave a scar.”

“I’ve got lots of scars; one more wouldn’t make much of a difference. Not that I’m eager to have one on my face. I don’t think the appeal of scars works for women the same way it does for men.”

“You’d still be beautiful,” Jemma blurted out, then blushed. She was glad Bobbi didn’t have a good view of her face.

Bobbi just said, “Thanks,” smiling a little. “I have faith in your ability to not leave me looking like the Phantom of the Opera.”

“I certainly hope I wouldn’t burn you whilst suturing.”

“Fine, if you want to get literal about it.”

Jemma ducked her head, biting her lip to keep back her smile.

It took hardly any time at all to finish. Three stitches, a quick bandage over it to keep it clean. “This can come off tomorrow; come see me and I’ll clean it for you.”

“Believe it or not, I have had stitches before,” Bobbi said wryly. “This isn’t my first rodeo.”

“Of course not, I just--”

“Relax, I’m teasing you.”

“Right. Of course.”

Bobbi made a show of straightening to attention and directing her focus to Jemma. “I am all yours, Doctor Simmons. Tell me what I need to know.”

Obviously Jemma got slightly stalled on the phrasing of that, on the way Bobbi’s beautiful eyes were trained on her. “Um,” she said, very smartly.

And then she said, “Do you want to have dinner with me sometime?”

Bobbi blinked, the only visible reaction to show she was surprised. She kept looking at Jemma.

Utterly mortified, Jemma said, “Oh, I shouldn’t have-- You don’t have to say anything, I know. I’m not pretty enough, or funny enough, or strong enough, or _something_ enough--”

Jemma stopped talking because Bobbi was kissing her. She made a tiny squeak of surprise and froze, unable to do much more than sit there, Bobbi’s lips on hers, and then it was over.

Well, what a waste. If that was to be the only time Bobbi ever kissed her, Jemma wished she had done more to enjoy it.

Except apparently Bobbi hadn’t gotten the memo that this was a one-off because she was gazing into Jemma’s eyes. “You’re everything enough, and anyone who ever told you differently was an idiot.”

“I think some of them were quite smart, actually,” Jemma said, for lack of anything else to say. She wasn’t certain her brain was functioning properly at the moment, to be honest.

“Idiots,” Bobbi repeated, and kissed Jemma again for good measure.

Jemma decided she agreed with everything Bobbi said.

**_End_ **


End file.
